The Trust Between Worlds
by StarWarriorGirl14
Summary: A young girl from Earth finds herself in Kirby's world after a near-successful attempt on her life. However, she is about to learn that sometimes, the most dangerous place for you to be is with people you trust. R&R, please. T just to be safe.
1. An Unexpected Visitor

_Okay, you know the drill. You've read it about a million times already, so it should be a given that I, along with the billions of other people on this site, do not own Kirby [sighs dejectedly]. However, I do own Alexis, just because I'm awesome like that.  
><em>

_Also, please, no flames...  
><em>

**Chapter One**

Alexis pulled back hard on the bowstring as she concentrated desperately on the target ten feet away from her, its obnoxiously clashing colors just about screaming insults at her. All around her was the conflicting personalities of the calming trees and the jeering teenagers around here. Whoever had the gall to call them her classmates was obviously too unquestioning for their own good. The term "classmates" just seemed to suggest a friendly atmosphere that was certainly nonexistent here.

"You're gonna miss!" A tall, thin girl, Ebony, screeched at her, her black hair tumbling over her shoulders in thick black coils. Alexis' grip on the bow and arrow tightened, and she wanted nothing more than to snap them both in half and throw them at the girl that seemed to have been sent here from her own personal hell. Alexis pulled back until the string was almost screaming in pain, then she let it go. The arrow sailed through the air for about a second before it fell short of the target by two feet. It was clear that it would have hit the target dead-on, but of course none of that mattered if it never hit. Alexis swore under her breath as the taunting intensified.

"What's wrong with you? Even a total archery beginner could've made that!"

"If you can miss that, you must be high or something!"

"Loser!"

"Failure!" Alexis glared at the sixty-something 14-year-olds in front of her; not one was ever on her side. They all joined in on the tormenting, either that or they didn't do anything to stop it. Then, before she could figure out what exactly she was doing, she ran over to Ebony and tackled her head-on. She was angry, she'd finally had enough, and this time she truly intended to settle the score. The two girls fell kicking and screaming to the ground, each trying to injure the other as much as possible. The gym teacher, Mr. Richardson, came over to break up the fight. Effectively pulling the two girls apart, he said, sternly,

"Just what happened here?" Alexis rolled her eyes; she knew all too well how this would end. Ebony would insist on playing the innocent victim, and Alexis would take the blame for everything. Again. It was almost like a soap opera; the only difference was that soap operas changed from time to time. This one was predictable to the last "e".

"I don't care what you think happened," she muttered coolly. "Because I know that you think the exact opposite of what really _did_ happen. I know that I'm going to be faced with suspension or expulsion, and if you really want to know the truth, I honestly couldn't care less." Alexis watched as Ebony's extremely ugly brown eyes widened. Her eyes were the exact color of dried mud and just as appealing, but she tried to cover that up with a manner of eye makeup products too numerous for Alexis to even attempt to list. Mr. Richardson also gaped at her like a fish out of water. It was clear that what Alexis had done was impossible, yet here she was, saying right out loud that she didn't care whether or not she was kicked out of school and, even worse, meaning it.

"All right," Mr. Richardson said as soon as he got his breath back. "You just pack up your supplies and leave. You're done," A flicker of a smirk quickly flitted across Alexis' face, and everyone who saw it (basically just two or three other students) knew that this was exactly what Alexis thought would happen. It might even be what she _wanted_ to happen.

"I get her bed," Kelsey whispered to her and Alexis' fellow dorm-mates, Veronica and Ivory, Ebony's twin sister. "I need another place to put my clothes." It was then that Alexis figured out the downside to getting expelled: without living arrangements provided by the school, Alexis was stuck out on the streets. But there wasn't anything she could do now except go with it. It wasn't like apologizing would get her out of an expulsion, after all. She turned and walked back towards the building to pack the few belongings she had. She was aware of herself sighing, but she turned her back, so nobody could possibly see.

As soon as she was out of range, she was running, her legs carrying her towards the school with a speed rivaling that of the best football players in the school. Without the taunting bow in her hand and with the burden of a quiver removed, she felt free for a second. Just for a second.

_ You got yourself into this mess,_she thought to herself. _Now you gotta find a way to get out of it._ She ran across the street, noticing a black car parked by the sidewalk but paying no attention to it, instead unlocking the wrought-iron gates that lead to the school. Cars like that were pretty common; Headmistress Delila was always seeing someone from the board of education or something like that. She slipped into her dorm quietly, making sure not to attract the attention of anybody in the building. Expulsion or not, none of the teachers would tolerate a student wandering around during classes. Alexis looked at the small pile of things that were shoved into the corner between her bed and the wall; with the explosion of clothing on the floor she had to learn to contain her own belongings or else risk losing them. She debated for a bit, then grabbed her extra casual outfit, her notebook, sketchpad, and bag of pencils (both regular and colored), and shoved them all into a small, drawstring bag that rested right between her shoulder blades. Walking out the door to her previous dorm, she couldn't help but laugh at both her circumstance and her peer's reaction to it. She ducked back inside so nobody could hear, shutting the door silently behind her until she could pull herself back together. Running her fingers through her chin-length, caramel-brown hair, she tried to make it look like it wasn't just randomly sticking out and didn't do a good job of it. Not that she really cared...that was how she liked it, anyways. _Hasta la vista, suckers,_ she thought, still chuckling all the while.

He had watched the girl run into the school, and he couldn't help but wonder just why in the world she, of all the humans on this miserable planet, was so important. Still, he knew better than to question Nightmare's methods. He had seen too many do the very same thing, and it all ended the same way; with them writhing in agony on the floor for the last five or ten seconds of their pitiful lives, a blade piercing through their throats.

So he had obeyed. He had watched. Now it was time to act. It was better to eliminate enemies before they even knew they were a threat, and since nobody was around they'd have no choice but to call it an accident. A tragic hit-and-run incident, with the crazed lunatic of a driver mysteriously disappearing, leaving noting behind but a girl who would be dead in the next five minutes. Maybe even sooner. He saw her exit the building, and, he turned the keys, the engine roaring into life. He smiled. It sounded like a demon, crazed to the point of madness with bloodthirst and fighting the restraining chains holding it back, eager to kill.

Who was he to deny such a powerful beast its request?

Alexis fumbled with the lock on the school gates, cursing every time she failed to get the combination right. Groaning, she finally punched in Ebony's combination, which she had committed to memory should this ever actually happen. Ebony was going to have a difficult time explaining that she'd never left the building unauthorized. As Alexis walked down to the sidewalk, trying to find out what she should do next, she heard the screeching of tires against the pavement. Whirling around, she saw the same black car barreling towards her at an impossible speed. Frozen in time, three different things seemed to happen. While they were certainly bordering simultaneous, to Alexis they each took a separate, agonizing five seconds.

First, what seemed to be a large whirlpool on its side erupted right behind her. It didn't try to suck anything in, and its presence was more like an open door than a threatening black hole. It was translucent; the only reason Alexis knew it was there was that everything immediately behind it was blurring and spiraling around in an almost hypnotic fashion.

Secondly, two figures dressed in what seemed to be full body armor came charging towards her. Alexis didn't know whether they were friends or foes, but if they were here to help her avoid ending up as roadkill that was a risk she'd gladly take.

Third, she felt herself being knocked into the whirlpool behind her, and in her last seconds of consciousness she saw the face of the man who had surely tried to kill her, his face blazing with rage and disbelief behind the orange lenses of his large sunglasses.

* * *

><p>Alexis woke up in a plain room with nothing more than a bed, a nightstand, and a couple chairs. Rubbing her forehead, where a slight headache had decided to gather, she absently looked out the window and froze.<p>

All she saw was pink clouds set in an orange sky, signaling that total sunset wasn't that far away, a situation that wouldn't have been nearly as scary if it weren't for the fact that she saw nothing else. Stumbling over to the window, she looked out and gave out a small gasp of surprise. The reason that she didn't see the landscape was because it was directly below her, the grass was an emerald green and, oddly, the two small lakes she saw were shaped in the exact shape of a five-pointed star. Alexis fell back on the bed with more force than necessary, covering her eyes with the palms of her hands. _I was almost hit by a car, _she thought, remembering that afternoon's occurrences that had undoubtedly lead to her lying here, in an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar region. _There was some kind of portal behind me, and I was pushed in before the car could hit me..._ Alexis recalled that she couldn't quite describe the two figures that had probably saved her life. _I'll know them when I see them._ She thought. _Both them and the driver._

Alexis' string of thoughts was cut off as she heard arguing voices coming from outside. Alexis decided that they weren't exactly outside her room, but were instead down the hall from it and staying in one place.

"You opened a portal?" a voice screamed. It sounded like, Alexis thought with a slight smile, a voice a bird would have if it could speak.

"He tried to run her down with a _car_, Vul. Although we didn't actually open it..." a voice replied, comparably quieter. At least one of them was trying to talk calmly.

"That's _Captain _Vul to you, Sword, and I swear I'll make sure you...wait. The portal...opened _itself?_" Vul replied, almost achieving a quieter tone and, in the end, failing.

"We think it was the girl," another voice replied cautiously. "Even thought she didn't know anything about a world outside hers, she _has_ to be the one Nightmare's after." Alexis raised an eyebrow in response to this. _A world outside my own? _She thought skeptically.

"No, really, all that happened was that she almost got run over!" Vul replied sarcastically. "We've already established that, Blade! Unfortunately for us, Nightmare isn't the one to make mistakes like this. If she almost got killed already, then she's the one he wants gone." Alexis silently opened the door and crept down the hallway towards the source of the argument. There were the two that had saved her, as well as what looked like a large, tan-colored bird wearing a sailor outfit.

"Should we go get her? I suppose she deserves an explanation for this..." one of the armored figures said. From the sound of his voice, Alexis decided that this one, with the green armor, was what they called "Blade".

"Yeah, you definitely do." she agreed, leaning up against the wall, her arms crossed and her blue-green eyes colder than ice. Vul jumped; even though he'd been facing her general direction the entire time, he had been so caught up in the argument that he hadn't seen her.

"Aagh! How long have you been there?"

"Just for a minute or two. But I heard the whole thing from my room." Sword and Blade exchanged glances.

"She appeared out of nowhere...!" Blade whispered.

"Just like...wow. That's a little creepy," Sword replied at equal volume, not bothering to finish his first sentence. They both knew what he meant. To Alexis, he said, "We're sorry that we had to take you here without any explanation ahead of time, but considering the circumstances that wasn't exactly possible..."

"It's fine," Alexis said dubiously. It was scathingly clear that she didn't know whether or not it was "fine". "But now I want some answers, starting with the obvious: Where in the name of all things sane did you send me?"

About 45 minutes passed. Quickly for some, agonizingly slow for most. A regular Q and A session had been set up in the hallway, and by this point nobody was standing around. Alexis was sitting up against a wall, and Sword and Blade were across from her. Vul had slipped back onto the bridge, but he occasionally made a brief entrance every 15 minutes or so.

"So...did you know about my world before? Obviously you were there when I was, but did you ever go...before that?" Alexis asked. Quite frankly, she was running on her thinning curiosity alone; she'd gotten bored with asking questions and was now only trying to ask the ones that could be answered in under a minute. Why she was continuing to ask was a mystery in itself...the truth was, she was fascinated by the prospect of being in a different world.

"We went there a few times," Blade said. "Once we found out Nightmare was searching for someone from your planet, we were sent to try and find out who the target was before he or she had already been...well, you know."

"So there isn't just one portal?"

"There's more than you'd think," Sword murmured. "We found the first one up in the sky about a week ago, and from there they just kept popping up at random moments. Almost like they were waiting for someone to find them." Alexis traced random patterns on the floor with her finger, although it was impossible for them to actually be seen. From what she'd gathered, she was on a flying battleship called the "Halberd", which she actually thought was pretty cool.

"So...am I just supposed to stay in this hallway the whole time?" she asked, semi-innocently.

"What? Oh, no! You can...wander around, just try not to break anything," Sword said quickly. Alexis stood up.

"Okay," She said, a bit miffed by Sword's insinuation that she would break something the first chance she got but determined not to show it. "I'll head to the bridge with you guys, if that's okay." Sword and Blade looked at each other and shrugged. There was no reason to argue with such a simple request, and even if there was it would be an incredibly stupid one.

"All right. This way," Blade said, heading down another hallway, followed by Sword and Alexis. Pushing open a large door, he said,

"How's everything holding up?" Sword Knight whispered quick names to Alexis, hoping that she could either remember them or come pretty close. Not that they were too complicated...their names were the same as the weapons they wielded, with the exception of Waddle Dee.

"Well, the portal really banged up the left wing this time around. The damage is at around 75%." Ax Knight said from a large keyboard.

"Why is it that always the left wing that gets beaten up?" Mace Knight sighed, falling backwards into his chair, which rolled across the room for a few seconds before stopping. "First Kirby took it out, and about two months later it nearly gets blown off in a wormhole." Noticing Alexis for the first time, he exclaimed, "Whoa! Is that the reason we were there in the first place?"

"You didn't have to come. Technically you weren't supposed to," Sword said. "Whose idea was it to follow us in, anyways?" The whole rest of the crew looked over at Vul, who seemed to be trying to hide behind Waddle Dee and, of course, failing.

"Remind me again why you're in charge when Meta Knight isn't around," Sword sighed.

"Wasn't it because he's just about the only one who can't swing a sword when he has to?" Ax asked. Everyone burst into laughter. Alexis could tell it wasn't the first time that they were having fun at Vul's expense. Waddle Dee looked around the room.

"Where _is_ Meta Knight, anyways?" When Blade responded, he sounded puzzled.

"We thought he was in here,"

"He went to go find you,"

"Well, we haven't seen him."

"Don't worry about it," Sword interrupted. "It's not like it's the first time he's disappeared." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"More like the hundredth,"

"Or the thousandth."

"So, what do we do until he gets back?" Waddle Dee asked.

"Stay on course." Vul replied, as if it were the most difficult question in the world and he just answered it.

"Which would be going where, exactly...?" Alexis asked. Vul shot her a dark glare.

"That doesn't concern you," he said, adopting the tone he got when he was getting impatient. That was usually enough to stop questions such as these.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm on this ship too, birdbrain. I'm pretty sure wherever it's going is my business, too." Alexis snapped, crossing her arms in front of her chest and firing back a glare of her own. Vul spluttered, looking for a good comeback. He wasn't used to being back-talked, especially not by 14-year-old girls.

"She's right. It is," an accented voice said from the doorway. Alexis whirled around, her hands curling into fists which hovered at her sides. It was a stance she had learned to develop when the kids from her school would ambush her in the woods, looking for a six-against-one brawl. Hearing the laughter coming from the crew members, Alexis unclenched her fists, her face a slight pink. She looked down at her shoes for a second, not wanting to look anybody in the eye.

"Sorry," she said at last, biting her lip. It was a habit that kicked in when she was trying not to get upset, and although it could be annoying at times, more often than not it worked.

"No, you have excellent reflexes," it was an odd thing to say, and it was clear that he was just saying that to make her feel a little better.

"Meta Knight! Could you please tell this kid that she needs to respect authority?" Vul asked loudly, having not registered a thing Meta Knight had said.

"Tell her where we're going. We dragged her into this; it's only fair that we let her know what's going on," Meta Knight's tone suggested absolute authority. Vul opened his mouth, as if wanting to object, then finally closed it again.

"Fine. Okay, kid..."

"Alexis," Sword cut in. Vul looked at him oddly, a mixture of annoyance and surprise.

"Okay, _Alexis_, we're heading to a place called Orange Ocean, which of course means nothing to you..." Vul looked as if he had no intention of elaborating, but a glare from Meta Knight urged him to do otherwise. "We keep the Halberd there in a special storage garage when we're not using it, and we're just going to stay around there for a few days. You'll have some homework to make up when we send you back."

"No, I won't." Alexis said.

"She got herself expelled," Sword explained bluntly, noticing Vul's reaction to the objection. Alexis couldn't decide whether or not to be annoyed with this. While she was thankful that he was helping her with Vul, she didn't like the idea of being spoken for. Especially not when it came to that topic...

"Great. Troublemaker..." Vul sighed.

"It's not like that. Not entirely, anyways," Alexis spoke up. "I was planning on leaving, anyways. It would've been better if I had time to figure things out a little bit more, but that can't be helped at this point."

"'Figure things out'? Like how you were going to tell your parents?" Waddle Dee asked.

"I...don't think they'd care," Alexis hedged. "They wanted me to be happy, and that school wasn't helping." Alexis noticed the mood in the room change almost instantly as soon as the word "wanted" slipped out.

"They're...not around, are they?" Waddle Dee asked, almost sympathetic, but in a sweet way.

"Not anymore," Alexis nodded. "The only thing keeping me from Social Services was the fact that I had residence at school. Now I'm out on the street there. Or at least I was, before I was almost run over by a car." Meta Knight quickly turned to Blade and Sword, muted urgency in his voice.

"You didn't tell me about this. About how he'd make a move so soon..."

"We didn't know he was planning anything. At least, anything that would be put into action this early...we figured he'd wait for her to actually do something..." Sword replied, shooting a quick glance over at Alexis over Meta Knight's shoulder. She simply watched, unable to make out what they were saying but knowing full well that it was about her. After a few moments, she looked away and started talking with Waddle Dee again, as if the two were long-lost friends of some sort.

"I don't think he wanted to give her the chance. Which means she's in more danger than we thought before," Meta Knight replied thoughtfully.

"But what do we do about this? If we send her back now, it'll be equal to a death sentence," Blade said.

"She'd be safer here, as long as one of us is around...in one way, I suppose." Sword said, noticing the look in Meta Knight's eyes.

"If she stays with us, she'll be safer from Nightmare than she would be in her own world," he agreed. "But at the same time, he could easily use one of us in order to find her. Or attack us and get her caught in the crossfire,"

"Lesser of two evils, right?" Blade asked, looking at Sword, who nodded.

"This world would probably be the lesser...at least here, we won't have to worry about being inconspicuous. It got way too close back there; if we hadn't been around when we were, then she probably wouldn't be here right now."

"Nightmare's being a bit more hasty than usual. Have you noticed that?" Meta Knight asked. He suppressed a sigh as both Blade and Sword shook their heads. Of course, they didn't know Nightmare's tendencies as well as he did. "He's trying to get rid of her now, instead of toying with her a bit like he usually tries. Which means no matter how little she knows, he sees her as a genuine threat."

"...Which actually comes with a few advantages...if Nightmare wants her out of the picture so bad, then she must be able to do something that puts him at risk." Sword said. Their conversation was interrupted by Waddle Dee's sudden exclamation of, "Wow! Can you teach me to do that?" The three knights turned around as Alexis turned from the main computer.

"Later," she said. Looking over at the three, she explained, "Your computer was freaking out. It wasn't showing the right measurements."

"How so?" Vul asked sulkily. Alexis looked out the window meaningfully.

"Well, unless we're _really_ flying through a thunderstorm thirty feet off the ground, upside-down, with three-fourths of the fuel tank gone and half the engine stalling..."

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Vul cried, exasperated. Alexis chuckled, a crooked grin spreading across her face.

"My question is, how did it wind up like that?" Sword asked. Alexis shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Well, probably better, but you know what I mean." Meta Knight took a few looks over the computer screen, as if wanting to make sure every letter was where it was supposed to be. Not looking up from the screen, he said,

"I'm going to go check the main engine, just to make sure everything's okay. Alexis, you come with me,"

"Okay," Alexis said in slight surprise, following Meta Knight out the door towards the engine room. The room remained completely silent until the door closed behind them.

"All right. Something's not right here," Vul declared. Mace rolled his eyes.

"Like what? We already figured out that the computer's bugging out."

"Not the computer. Her," Vul sighed.

"What does Alexis have to do with this? In five minutes she did more than you've done this entire trip!"

"Yeah, but I just get this weird vibe from her. Almost like she's not supposed to be here."

"Technically, she _isn't_ supposed to be here. But between that and letting her get run over, this was the better of the two options." Sword said. Again, Vul shot a surprised look in his direction.

"Did you hit your head while going through the portal? Because you're just acting really funny whenever we bring her up..."

"I think you're the one who hit his head," Sword said dismissively, grateful for the fact that his full armor covered his face. "Because you don't know what you're talking about. As usual,"

* * *

><p>The engine, although sounding just fine from the control room, was revealed to be just the opposite as one approached the engine room. If an engine was the heart of a machine, then this was a failing heart, possibly with arrhythmia. Something was wrong, a fact that was glaringly obvious from the start. And, Meta Knight thought with a grimace, if they couldn't fix it, then the ship was going down, something he would not permit to happen again. That would be two times in just as many months. The Halberd crew had barely been able to make repairs in the one-and-a-half month deadline that it had become necessary to set, and saying so it was clear that they had had some extra hands helping. A lot of extra hands.<p>

A loud bang coming from the other side of the door cut off Meta Knight's thoughts, and he saw Alexis jump slightly out of the corner of his eyes. Something was in there, something that wasn't supposed to be there.

"Should I go first, or you?" Alexis asked quietly, as if unsure whether or not it would be acceptable to ask him a question. Meta Knight's strategic mindset settled over him. If there was really something in there, and Alexis went first, she might not be able to react in time to avoid what could be a fatal attack. Then again, if he were to be engaged in combat, and this "visitor" wasn't alone...

"Double-edged sword?" Alexis guessed, seeing the conflict in his eyes. Her usage of the expression was slightly humoring despite the situation.

"Yes," Meta Knight replied. Two bangs were heard in quick succession, followed by a low moan from the engine. Whatever it was, there was more than one and they were trying to sabotage the ship. Meta Knight quickly reached up to the door handle, pushing the door open with more force than necessary. It flew back on its hinges and collided with the wall with a metallic _clang_ that echoed through the room, even over the dying engine's futile attempts to keep itself running. All was quiet in the room as the echoes died down. Too quiet. Meta Knight looked around, trying to find out where the saboteurs were hiding.

"Split up," he said at last. While he regretted having Alexis wandering around by herself in what had become hostile territory, if there was any chance of catching whoever did this it was a necessity. Alexis nodded once before creeping to the left of the room, picking a wrench up off the floor to use as a weapon as she did so. Meta Knight watched her until the shadows in the room completely concealed the girl from sight, them turned to the other side of the room.

As he did so, he was met by a floating black mass of darkness, a single red eye hovering in the sphere's insubstantial body. Without thinking further, he whipped out his sword and plunged it right through, hoping as he did so that this one and its companion were relatively close together and, preferably, away from the left side of the room.

* * *

><p>Alexis crept silently down the narrow passage between the engine and the wall. She could feel its dwindling heat radiating off as she moved on, its heat helping to calm her restless nerves. So much had happened so far today; before she knew it this series of turning events had landed her here, trying to find a potential saboteur with only a wrench as a weapon.<p>

Alone. The sensation of loneliness draped over her again, familiar and, at the same time, slightly oppressive. It was both a constant comfort and a constant threat. Alexis had been alone practically all her life; she was a little too used to just hiding in the background, hoping the people up front wouldn't notice her. The shadows were a quiet sanctuary, but here, with an unknown threat looming over her shoulders, they seemed like the perfect place to ambush her.

Alexis whirled around to face a small space between the engine and the floor. Something had _moved_ down there, she was sure of it. A wad of fear constricted her throat as a large red eye blinked lazily at her, as if wanting to taunt her. Suddenly, it burst out from underneath the engine it had been trying to destroy. Long, black, vine-like structures flew out of its body and began wrapping themselves around Alexis. While they seemed to be mist-like shadows, they were as solid as could be as they tightened themselves around her, creeping up from her feet to her torso before she could think anything that would make sense. It was as if the shadows were looking to completely immobilize her before eventually suffocating her in their iron grips. Alexis' call for help came out as nothing but a strangled cry of surprise. With the last part of her mind still thinking logically, she flicked her wrist towards the floor, sending the wrench plummeting towards the engine. A loud bang rang out, and as the vines held her arms to her sides, all she could do was pray that it was loud enough.

* * *

><p>Meta Knight had just finished with the first Dark Matter when he heard a quiet, barely audible cry of surprise coming from behind the engine, followed shortly by a louder clang. His eyes widened as he made his way over to where Alexis had vanished, running as fast as he possibly could and tightening his grip on his sword as he did so. His mind, caught off guard, processed the only thought it could: Alexis was in trouble, and if he didn't get there in time, she'd pay for his slow reaction with her life.<p>

* * *

><p>Alexis had never thought much about how she might die, but it was certainly nothing like this. She was trapped in a living shadow, fighting to get out but doing just as much damage to it as she would if she was running her nails down a brick wall. For every attempted struggle, the iron darkness would tighten its grip, barely allowing her to breathe. The only thing keeping Alexis holding onto consciousness was the fear that if she didn't, she'd never wake up again, and the last thing she'd see would be this shadow's merciless gaze looking at her with an air of deliberate amusement. As if it enjoyed what it was doing to her.<p>

She would give no one that satisfaction. But she couldn't hold on forever, and the prospect of just letting go and never having to worry again was quite the temptation. She felt the shadowy vines reach her neck, and her hopes of being rescued were extinguished quickly as she felt them wrap around her neck and pull tightly. Her head was swimming almost immediately afterwords; the lack of air mingled with her terror to make a fatal combination. She heard Meta Knight call her name as the world descended into blackness, but he could be miles away for how well she could hear him.

Suddenly, the bonds were cut loose, but Alexis could not keep conscious long enough to get her breath back. Half-falling to the floor, the world went completely black. Her last coherent thought had been something about how Meta Knight had just saved her life, and how much trouble she was truly in.


	2. Second Guesses

"Is she all right?" Waddle Dee asked, concerned as ever. It was this question that Alexis first heard as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head throbbed, but she reasoned that as long as she could feel pain she was alive.

"She's alive!" Waddle Dee exclaimed happily. Alexis winced as the loud sound filled her ears.

"Okay, okay, we get it. I survived," she mumbled.

"Sorry, Alexis," was the pathetically sweet reply. Alexis smiled warmly, something that didn't happen too often. She normally didn't have anything to smile about.

"It's fine," she said. "I guess I needed a wake-up call, anyways." Waddle Dee's eyes glittered with tears, happy to be forgiven and even happier that Alexis hadn't died in the engine room.

"...Where are the others?" Alexis asked, looking around the room. As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Sword and Blade came in after a moment.

"Hey, guys," Alexis said, taking in the sudden increase in tension in the room.

"What happened in there?" Alexis thought that Meta Knight had explained while she was out, but answered nonetheless.

"Something jumped me when I was by myself. I don't know what it was."

"Dark Matter," Waddle Dee supplied helpfully, although he sounded reluctant to speak its name.

"Yeah, that. And then these vine-like things came out and started wrapping around me..." Alexis trailed off, shuddering as she remembered the constricting feeling that had come with this attack.

"They've never tried that before...do you think Nightmare's been altering them?" Blade asked.

"If he's messing with them, he must be getting desperate." Sword replied, suddenly turning and leaving the room.

"What was that about?" Waddle Dee asked. Alexis just shrugged.

"Sometimes it's better not to ask questions. Besides, seeing as though I'm pretty new here, I probably shouldn't be guessing, anyways."

* * *

><p>Sword angrily stalked down the hallways, scanning for Meta Knight as he did so. He had never once spoken against him; there had never been a need to question him until now. Now that he had endangered the girl, Sword just didn't know what to trust. He needed reassurance, but a larger part of him required more than that. He required her safety, and if that was so difficult to obtain there was going to be a serious problem. He finally came across Meta Knight's quarters, and he pushed the door open without knocking, something he would normally do.<p>

"I believe I know what this is about," Meta Knight said from the dark corner of the room. His silhouette was barely distinguishable from the dark wall behind him.

"If you suspected trouble, why did you bring her with? Why not one of us?" was all Sword could muster. Even with the current circumstances, he could barely bring himself to be angry at the one who had saved him and Blade so long ago.

"I don't know what made me do that," Meta Knight replied evenly. "And I don't pretend to. All I know is that I never intended to put her in harm's way."

Sword muttered something under his breath. Although Meta Knight couldn't hear what it was, he knew that it was angry and potentially disrespectful.

"Sword, I worry about her well-being just as much as you seem to," he said. "But if we shelter her this whole time and she's suddenly confronted, she won't stand a chance." A twisted, sickened dread fell upon Sword upon hearing this.

"You...you meant to get her attacked!" The wild accusation would normally be shameful to him, and even now he hoped with all his heart that he was wrong. If Meta Knight was surprised at all by this outburst, he did an almost flawless job of hiding it.

"I meant nothing of the sort," Meta Knight replied. Sword noticed that he was having a harder time keeping his voice even than he did before. "If she's going to be with us, then she needs to know what's going on."

"And that's worth putting her in danger?" Meta Knight fixed Sword with a cool glare.

"If I remember correctly, Sword, she was already in danger long before this." Sword sighed, knowing that the argument was as good as a loss to him. But this newly revealed side to him wasn't about to just walk away.

Before he could think of something to say, however, Waddle Dee came in. Nervously wringing his hands, he said to Meta Knight,

"She's awake, sir..." Meta Knight looked over at Waddle Dee over Sword's shoulder.

"Thank you, Waddle Dee," he said.

"You're welcome," With that, Waddle Dee slipped back out of the room. Sword turned back to Meta Knight.

"You said earlier that this world would be safer for her as long as one of us was around, right?" he asked.

"Yes," Meta Knight said wearily, not in the mood for these games.

"Did you add yourself to the list of dangers she's facing? Because it looks like you should." With that, Sword exited the room without another word, feeling smug after seeing Meta Knight visibly stiffen. It was a low blow, and they both knew it. Meta Knight sighed, images of the events in the engine room flashing before him yet again. Alexis was in danger, that much was obvious. The real question was, was she in more trouble with Nightmare or himself?

* * *

><p>Customer Service was not supposed to have let this happen. He knew that what had transpired was clearly, 100% out of his control, but he really should have seen this coming. Now, how was he supposed to explain to the boss how the girl's life had slipped through his fingers? <em>It wasn't my fault,<em> he thought. _If it weren't for those two knights back in her world, I would have succeeded._

Try telling that to someone who did not tolerate failure. Customer Service sighed, but he knew that keeping this from the boss was only going to make things worse. Still, he dreaded the moment when he would have to confess that he had made his first mistake. And it was the first mistake that was most often the deadliest.

"How is the girl?" Nightmare's voice suddenly filled the room. Customer Service turned around, wishing he had more satisfactory news to report but knowing that that was not the case.

"She has more help than we first thought," he replied cautiously. An odd look came over Nightmare, one that Customer Service had seen before. One that usually meant that there was a fair chance that blood was about to be spilled.

"So you mean to tell me you failed," it wasn't a question.

"Yes. The backup did as well," Customer Service said, a part of him wishing he had been one of the Dark Matter he'd sent as a Plan B. At least there, their ends had been a less painful demise than what he'd seen Nightmare put some failed creations through. There was an agonizingly long silence before he heard Nightmare's unexpected reply.

"I'm only keeping you here because you've served me exceptionally well in the past, and I hope you realize that I do not appreciate repeated mistakes. If you value your existence, you will not let this happen again."

* * *

><p><em>Thump. Thump. Thump.<em> The consistent noise of a tennis ball hitting the ceiling was heard from down the hall, most likely due to the fact that the entire ship was made of metal. Every now and then, the initial thump would be followed by either a low thud (if it hit the nightstand or the chairs) or a series of progressively quieter thumps, where the tennis ball would hit the floor. Then there would be a pause, unnervingly quiet after getting used to the noise made by this, and then the rhythm would begin again. It was obvious that the source of this sound, Alexis, was extremely bored. Meta Knight had told her to stay in bed until she could recover, but she apparently found this unsatisfactory. Not that there was much to do in the first place...

Judging from Vul's facial expressions from the past 20 minutes, he was getting sick and tired of this.

"I can't take it anymore!" he suddenly exclaimed, covering his ears. There was a brief pause on Alexis' part, and even though nobody could see her they all silently agreed that she was amused by this. Then, deliberately, the thumps started up again.

"AAUGH!" Vul screamed, deciding enough was finally enough. "Make it stop! Honestly, how am I supposed to run things down here with that noise?"

"I'll go handle it," Mace sighed, taking the opportunity to stay away from Vul for a little bit.

"You're driving Vul insane in there." he said as he entered Alexis' room. Alexis caught the tennis ball and sat up on the bed. She had that crooked grin again.

"That was kinda the point," she said. "But I'm sorry that I had to make you suffer because of that. Guess I should've seen that coming,"

"Probably," Mace agreed. "Anyways, I know you're not allowed anywhere else for the moment and you're bored out of your mind, but could you find something...quieter to do before Vul completely loses it?"

"Sure," Alexis said, putting the ball back in her pack. "Not sure what I'll do, but I'll figure something out."

"Thanks, Alexis." Mace said, backing out the door again.

"No problem." As soon as the door shut, Alexis collapsed back on the bed again, slightly shaking it as she did so. _God, I'm bored,_ she thought to herself. _But I don't think wandering around is gonna be worth it if I get caught doing it..._ With nothing else to do, Alexis fell asleep, memories unwillingly creeping into what could have otherwise been quite a good rest.

_ A car rushes past the sidewalk she is walking down, much faster than the speed limit. A large wave of dirty water lunges at her, and without any way to move, she reluctantly takes the hit. The rain is pouring down, but she doesn't bother to put her hood up, instead embracing the rain like an old friend. Walking up the steps to her house, she inserts the key into the lock, the key that hasn't been used for at least two years. She turns it and walks into her house, sensing before she even walks past the front door that something is wrong here. Terribly so. The house is empty, and there is not a sound to be heard except her own breathing and the sound of her footsteps as she walks down the halls of the house that now feels like it belongs to a complete stranger._

_ "Hello?" she calls. Nobody answers. Suddenly, the phone rings, cutting through the silence like a knife. She answers with shaking hands, recognizing the number on the caller ID as her father's cell phone. Everything's okay, she thinks, flushed with relief. He's just calling to see when dinner's going to be ready._

_ As soon as she answers, though, she knows that that is not the case._

_ "Alexis," comes her father's voice, quick and hushed with anxiety._

_ "Dad? What's going on?" she asks, the hope in the pit of her stomach quickly morphing into despair._

_ "The wall safe...open it and take out whatever's in it. It's yours. The combination is 37-15-2. Take whatever's in there and get out. Don't ever come back." she doesn't understand what's going on, but she knows that her father's under extreme duress._

_ "And Alexis?" This time her father's voice is weary and pained, as if he's aged forty years since the last sentence he spoke._

_ "What?" she asks, feeling renegade tears behind her eyes, threatening to emerge._

_ "Your mother and I love you...very, very much." The next sounds she hears are ones that will haunt her in her dreams for many nights to come._

_ A gunshot rings out in the background, followed by a woman's scream. Her mother's scream. Then another shot rings out, and she doesn't hear her father's reply no matter how many times she screams into the receiver._

_ She stops as she hears heavy breathing. Someone else has picked up the phone. Someone responsible for her parents' deaths._

_ "Don't think I've forgotten you," he croons. "You'll be with your parents soon enough, sugar." For a moment, she is too angered to be afraid and screams the worst possible insult she can think of into the phone, hoping that she's hurt his ears. Then panic overtakes her and she throws the phone to the floor as she runs upstairs towards the safe. As she's leaving, though, she hears a sound coming from the still-connected phone that causes her blood to ice over. The sound is demonic laughter of some kind, and it sounds amused. She smashes the phone under her foot, but not before his words can creep into her heart._

_ "You can run, girl, but you can't hide...you won't be a problem to me, not now, not ever."_

Alexis cried out involuntarily as she fell out of bed, tangled up in the sheets as she suddenly woke up, that evil laugh still echoing in her ears. Her breathing was shallow as she struggled to sit up, but her trembling arms just did not seem willing to cooperate. She tried to untangle herself from the sheets, but that too seemed beyond her capabilities. It was the worst nightmare she'd ever had; never before had that night been replayed with so much detail. It wasn't like she was just looking back on it, it was as if she was actually _reliving_ it. Waddle Dee burst into the room, taking in the scene before him.

"Alexis! What happened?" Meta Knight exclaimed behind Waddle Dee, gently but firmly pushing himself into the room. Noticing that she was not under attack as he had previously thought, he sheathed his sword.

"Had a n-n-nightmare..." Alexis said, barely able to form a coherent sentence. Suddenly the threat of the man over the phone seemed all too real once again.

"Alexis. You need to tell me what happened," Meta Knight said after a period of silence.

"It'll make you feel better," Waddle Dee offered from the door, not wanting to see Alexis like this. Alexis curled herself into a loose ball against the wall, still bundled up in the blankets.

"You can go back to the bridge now, if you want." She said to Waddle Dee, knowing that this was probably making him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"I'll stay," he said quietly.

"You can stay," Meta Knight said. "Just go and tell the others that nobody's being attacked. At least," he added, casting a sidelong glance in Alexis' direction. "Not by anything in physical form."

"Okay," Waddle Dee said, running out of the room as quickly as his round feet could carry him. After a moment or two, he came back. Closing the door behind him, he said,

"They're all a little worried...well, except Vul, but there's no surprise there." Alexis smiled weakly, trying to laugh through the tears that had started creeping down her face. "I told them it was just a nightmare..."

"Didn't feel like one," Alexis murmured. "It was like I was living the worst day of my life all over again." Meta Knight visibly tensed upon hearing this. Although Alexis didn't like to reflect on that day, she knew that it needed to be shared.

So she told them. She told them everything that had happened, leaving nothing out no matter how much she wanted to. By the time she had finished, though, she was trembling from fear. She felt that even though five years had passed since that day, that threat she'd heard from the other side of the room still stood strong.

Waddle Dee came over to her and hugged her as best as he could with his stubby arms, trying to comfort her and doing a sufficient job of it. Meta Knight ran a hand through her hair hesitantly, as if not certain if it was a good thing to do, all the while trying to find out what that phone call meant.

_Nightmare was looking for her even then,_ he thought. Why it took him so long to find her was unknown, but it was possible that he had been biding his time for some odd reason. _Waiting to see what we would do about it. If we would catch on in time. _Why Alexis was so crucial to Nightmare was still unknown, but Meta Knight did know this: he couldn't let her fall into Nightmare's hands. He had already reached out to her once, and that had resulted in the death of her parents.

But why her parents? Was it because he wanted to get under Alexis' skin, or was it because he was trying to find something? The search for the threat against him might have simply ended at Alexis, but there was a chance that it hadn't started with her. There had been many options, Meta Knight was sure, and they had all been eliminated one by one until only one was left. The most unlikely option.

Alexis. Somehow, Nightmare had managed to pinpoint her exact location over the course of five years, with all that effort going towards one ultimate goal.

Killing her. The thought sent uncharacteristic rage through Meta Knight's blood. Nightmare had ruthlessly torn apart Alexis' life, trying to break her apart as much as possible before simply eliminating her. There was no way that he would ever permit that to happen.

"Alexis," he said softly. Alexis looked up from her lap, her blue-green eyes glistening with tears. Then she looked back down without giving another thought about it.

"Alexis. Look at me," Meta Knight tried again, firmer this time. He gently placed a hand under her chin, forcing her to look up. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. You need to know that."

"What about the engine room? That was...really close..." Meta Knight sighed.

"I know," he said. "But that was a mistake that I am not about to make again. You need to trust me, Alexis."

"It's not a question of trusting you," Alexis replied quietly. "It's a matter of whether or not it's a good idea to trust _myself_,"

"I trust you," Waddle Dee piped up. "I trust you and I haven't even known you for that long. That has to count for something, right?"

"You trust me because you don't know me," Alexis argued. "You trust me because you don't know any better," Waddle Dee looked up at her, his large brown eyes staring straight into her core.

"Give me one reason why," he said unexpectedly. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't trust you." Alexis groaned internally, trying to find a reason why and unable to come up with one. When she finally found a solution, she regretted it. It was supremely lame but she felt that it was the only excuse that she could possibly think of while still having it remain the truth.

"Because I feel like trusting people is an invitation for them to rip your heart out," she said bluntly. A pained expression filled the two chocolate-brown eyes in front of her, and a small, hidden part of her immediately regretted ever saying that.

"Not everybody's like that, though. Right, Meta Knight?...Meta Knight?" Waddle Dee looked around the room, confused.

"Must've slipped out while we weren't paying attention," Alexis muttered. _Yet another supporter of that hidden theory,_ she thought to herself. _People always bail out on you just when you need someone the most._ Waddle Dee also headed towards the door.

"I'm going to go to bed now. It's late out." Alexis looked out the window to see that it was pretty dark out.

"Okay," she said. "Good night,"

"Bye," the door closed softly, and Alexis stood up on shaky legs and walked around the room for a bit. She looked out the window to see the ground below a lot closer than it was before. They would probably be on solid ground the next morning; nobody wanted to land a ship this size in the dark.

Unwilling to go back to sleep for fear of the nightmares that lurked in her subconscious, Alexis simply collapsed onto the bed. She lightly fingered the one thing that had been in the wall safe so long ago: a silver necklace with a metal pendant about the size of a walnut. It was a dark, silvery blue, and it was in the shape of a star. Why this had been so important Alexis didn't know, but she doubted that it was just an early birthday present. Whatever it was, why was it important enough to be worth killing for?

* * *

><p>Waddle Dee wandered down the hall towards his tiny quarters on the ship. The tiny room wasn't much more than a supply closet with a bed shoved in, but he was glad that he at least had something to himself aboard the Halberd. <em>Why won't you trust, Alexis? <em>He thought. _What caused you to want to be completely closed off from the rest of the world? _Somehow he didn't think that it was just the death of her parents that caused it. Other forces had had a part in this, he was sure of it.

"What did she tell you?" Waddle Dee jumped, not expecting to find Meta Knight standing in the doorway at this hour.

"She said...that trusting people is asking for them to tear your heart out," Waddle Dee said. Meta Knight was silent for a moment, turning Alexis' comment over in his head.

"...We've asked enough of her for now," he said. "Don't bring it up unless she wants to talk about it. She's having a hard enough time without people constantly demanding her life story."

"Yes sir," Waddle Dee said. As if in an afterthought, he added, "I think Sword's mad at you for what happened in the engine room."

"Oh, I know he is," Meta Knight replied. "But he knows that nobody knew that was going to happen."

"I think he likes her," Waddle Dee said suddenly. Meta Knight cast him an odd look, a cross between amusement and scolding.

"Yes, I was getting that impression as well," he said. Waddle Dee barely kept his mouth shut before his next thought could make itself known: _I got that impression with you too, sir._ While it was at least somewhat true, Waddle Dee did not want to voice this thought out loud. He respected Meta Knight's privacy, and he also had a sense of self-preservation that said to say this out loud might not be the best idea.

So Waddle Dee fell asleep that night with only one thing he knew for certain: Alexis was just as complex as anybody else here. Maybe even more so.


	3. Landing at Last

_Well, it's been a little while since my last update, but that can't really be helped. It's just that time when your teachers are slamming you with finals and trying to cram in things that they haven't taught you all year. I've had four major projects in the past week, so needless to say it was hard to find time to update. This chapter is a little shorter than the previous ones, but I hope that you'll find that it'll be good nonetheless.  
>Anyways, here it is, the chapter you've been waiting for...Chapter three!<em>

* * *

><p>"We're landing!" Vul said gruffly on the other side of the door, banging on it once or twice for good measure. Not appreciating the unnecessary wake-up call, Alexis bolted up wide awake and lobbed the tennis ball at the door with all her might. Satisfied by the startled squawk that followed the loud thud, Alexis smirked and looked out the window. The sun was barely making itself known; it seemed unwilling to creep out from under the pink ribbon lining the whole horizon to light the world. Stars faintly twinkled in the sky, as if they knew that they weren't supposed to be out right now and confused as to what they were supposed to do about it. As if they relied on the sun to tell them how to run their courses around the planet, and they were completely lost without its instructions.<p>

"Good morning to you, too," Vul muttered from the other side of the door. He froze, and for a moment he could swear that he could hear her chuckling from the other side. He stomped off towards the control room, stopping to resume a dignified walk as he entered the room.

"Gotten attacked by a tennis ball lately?" Mace asked innocently from the computer screen.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Vul said.

"I think I do." Mace said, exchanging a knowing glance with Ax.

"How so?" Vul asked mockingly.

"Because I told them," Alexis said from behind him. Her clothes were rumpled and her hair was a mess, showing that she had come straight here upon Vul's banging in her door. A large splotch of black was smeared on her left cheek.

"What? How did you get here before I did?"

"I crawled through the air ducts." Alexis admitted, explaining the dirt smeared on her face. "You should probably clean them out. They're a little dusty." Vul stood there gaping at the girl before her. She had crawled through the ship's air ducts just so she could get here before he did, and she seemed to enjoy messing with him. Sword and Blade came in before anybody could say anything.

"You sure you saw something on the radar? There's nothing in the ducts..." Blade trailed off as he saw the smear on Alexis' face. He was able to connect the dots faster than Vul had been able to.

"Well, that explains it."

"Yeah, you should've been here. She came down in here like she'd been doing it all her life." Mace said.

"But Ax almost took her out when he threw his ax at her," Waddle Dee added, looking over at a battleax that had somehow lodged itself six inches into the wall.

"Have fun getting that out of there," Sword remarked.

"No kidding. Talk about karma," Ax said. "But it really wasn't my fault; nobody really enters the control room through the air ducts."

"I guess I should've given them a heads-up, but then it would've echoed through the ducts and that would've made Vul hear it. Not a good recipe for a sneak attack." Alexis said, shrugging as if it really couldn't be helped. Vul sighed; this girl was going to drive him crazy.

"Prepare for landing," he said. "At least I won't be stuck with her when we're on the ground," he reasoned to himself, trying to convince his mind to just endure another five or ten minutes of this. Just a little while longer, and then it would be done, and he'd be able to put some well-deserved distance between himself and Alexis, who seemed to enjoy one-upping him at every turn.

A sudden explosion rocked the Halberd, almost sending it ramming its lower wing into a tree.

"What was that?" Vul screeched. Alexis read the computer readouts over Mace's shoulder as Ax printed out a long piece of paper containing a damage report.

"Something's attacked the left wing! Damage increased to approximately 93%!" Ax exclaimed.

"We're losing stability! If we don't pull up the entire left side will be stuck in the ground!" Mace said. Not waiting for further instructions, he pushed a few buttons and flicked several important-looking switches. The Halberd managed to righten itself and rose into the air again.

"I want to know what's attacking us _right now!_" Vul continued, obviously distraught that the ship was being attacked.

"Working on it," Mace said, exasperated. Turning to Alexis, he said, "Move a chair over here. I could use some help," Alexis turned and snagged a chair in the process of rolling across the floor. Sitting back down, she asked,

"What do you need me to do?"

"You see that controller over there?" Alexis looked over and nodded. It was a wide, U-shaped contraption, with a large red button on either side.

"Yes,"

"That's the manual controller for the cannons. We had to disable the auto-homing mode to keep this thing in the air." Vul looked over in shock.

"You're letting her man the cannons?"

"I can handle it!" Alexis objected. She turned to the controller and the screen in front of it.

"Well, if it keeps you from getting yourself strangled..." Vul muttered. Alexis whirled around, her eyes icing over in anger.

"You wanna say that again?" she asked, her tone now soft and dangerous. A shudder swept through everyone in the room at this. Most of them had never heard a sound so malicious as that, and if they had it had been a long time ago, almost forgotten until now.

"We got it on radar! It's Kirby again!" There was a series of collective groans as Alexis took in the scene before her. A little pink puffball was riding what appeared to be a large golden star, shooting star-shaped projectiles at random points on the ship.

"We're not here to attack! We're not even taking off!" Mace groaned. "Alexis, try to get him so he just lands on deck. We'll take it from there." Alexis placed her thumbs on the buttons and focused on the erratically flying star, trying to trap it in the crosshairs. She didn't want to hurt Kirby himself, so she aimed for the star and fired.

A deafening boom rolled out like thunder as a large blast collided with the star. It was a perfect shot, and now Kirby was on deck.

"We'll try to negotiate with him." Sword and Blade volunteered. "Before he can take the ship down again,"

"Might want to hurry," Ax said, looking anxiously at the screen. "He's heading for the right wing right now." Sword and Blade rushed out the door, almost crashing into each other as they attempted to reach the right wing before Kirby could destroy that one, too.

"I don't get it," Alexis said. "Why would he be attacking out of the blue?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Mace said. "But as for guesses, I can't come up with anything."

"Same," everybody else sighed. Waddle Dee looked around.

"It's weird that Meta Knight hasn't shown up yet,"

"Yeah. It would take a lot to miss the first two explosions." Alexis added.

"You don't think he's in trouble, do you?" Waddle Dee asked nervously.

"I doubt it," Ax said. "He probably just thinks that we can handle this ourselves."

"Well, so far, so good,"

"Don't even say things like that!" Vul and Alexis both said, glaring at each other due to the fact that one had had the exact same thought as the other.

"Why?" Waddle Dee asked. Looking at each other warily as if to make sure they wouldn't say the same thing again, Alexis and Vul hesitated as to who spoke first.

"Because life has this nasty habit of making exactly what you don't need to happen, happen." Alexis said at last.

"Plus, remember what happened last time, with the reflected lasers and the reactor?" Vul added.

"Oh, yeah, how could we forget what sent the ship crashing down last time?" Mace said sarcastically. "Seriously, Vul, it's like you forget that we were there when that happened, too."

* * *

><p>Sword and Blade ran down the halls, knowing that with each step they took that was one step closer to Kirby. All they could really do was hope that he didn't have a copy ability at the moment or, if he did, decide to hear them out instead of jumping them at the first possible moment.<p>

"Kirby!" Sword called, spotting the pink puffball at last. Kirby turned around, a blue cap on his head and a bomb in his hand.

"Oh, great," Blade groaned.

"Kirby, wait one second. We're not here to fight you," Sword said, trying to tone down the situation before someone wound up getting hurt.

"Poyo?" Kirby asked, tossing the bomb over his shoulder behind him. Sword and Blade flinched as it exploded against the wall.

"Kirby, use your words. We know you've been learning..." Kirby looked confused. It was easy for Sword to say "Just use your words", but there were just so many to learn, and all of them meant different things. If Kirby was to say the wrong one, the calm situation probably wouldn't last much longer.

"Thought you were attacking," he said, choosing each word with the utmost care. "Came to stop you."

"Kirby, we're not attacking anything," Blade said. "In fact, we were trying to land when you showed up."

"Oh..."Kirby said, looking at the large pillar of black smoke from the other side of the ship billowing into the early-morning air. "I'm sowwy,"

"It'll be fine, Kirby. We'll fix it as soon as we land. Why don't you come up to the control room with us? There's someone new here that we want you to meet,"

* * *

><p>"Well, I'm glad that's been dealt with." Vul said, watching the monitors with an air of approval. "It would've been bad if we went crashing down at this altitude."<p>

"But if you didn't have that far to go, then it probably wouldn't have been that bad..." Waddle Dee said, stopping as Vul glared at him.

"He's probably right. But nobody up here wants to take that risk," Mace said. Sword and Blade entered the room with Kirby trailing behind them.

"Hi, Kirby!" Waddle Dee exclaimed.

"Waddle Dee!" Kirby said happily. Looking over at Alexis, he said,

"Name Kirby. What yours?" Alexis smiled.

"Alexis. Nice to meet you, Kirby."

"Alexis! Poyo! Alexis!" Kirby exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"Alright, Kirby, don't break anything!" Vul said. Turning to the rest of the crew, he said, "Okay, let's land this thing and get to work on repairs."

"Yessir," was the exasperated reply.

"That's what we've been working on for the past few minutes," Mace muttered to Alexis, who nodded in sympathy.

"I don't think he pays attention to what goes on in here as well as he should," she replied at equal volume.

"Hey! I don't see a lot of work going on over there!" Vul said.

"That's because there's no work left to do..!" Alexis muttered quietly. The next part she said was deliberately louder, enabling Vul to hear. "Honestly, I'm starting to think he just enjoys the sound of his own voice..."

The bridge erupted into laughter and infuriated squawking as the Halberd descended into a garage of some sort. From far away, it seemed to be slipping into the horizon before vanishing, as if it had never even existed. By the time the sun was taking up its normal 7-am position, its warm rays barely skimmed the Halberd's damaged wings before the garage roof closed overhead, sheltering it from daybreak's light and momentarily casting the room into complete darkness. Bright white lights flickered on, as if welcoming the Halberd home from its perilous journey.


	4. Knowledge and Feathers

_Sorry I haven't posted in a while...been working on a lot of other stories (both on this story and in my head...it's problematic). Anyways, I haven't worked on Kirby-related stuff in a while, so I hope this chapter is as good as the previous ones.  
><em>

_Here it is...Chapter 4!  
><em>

* * *

><p>No sooner had the ship touched down when Vul came dashing out of the ship, not even sticking around to see if any of his crew mates needed help with anything.<p>

"Well, that was nice of him," Alexis commented from the bridge, watching from the window as Vul ran around with his arms in the air. It didn't take a genius for someone to figure out the meaning behind that gesture. _I'm free, I'm free!_ She could almost hear him shouting that, and the thought made her laugh.

"You alright?" Sword asked from behind her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Alexis said. "I just think it's funny how Vul's reacting to not having to be in the same room as me anymore."

"Yes, he's taking this pretty well, isn't he?"

"If I didn't know any better," Ax said, about to head out the door, "I'd say that he's _happy_ about this."

"Probably is," Alexis said, also deciding that she had spent enough time here for now. "But in case he hasn't noticed, _I'm_ not very fond of _him_ either."

* * *

><p>Outside, Alexis aimlessly wandered up and down the shoreline of Orange Ocean, careful not to stray too far from where the Halberd was being repaired. Looking out over the ocean, it dawned on her that it was the first time she'd ever seen the sea. She had been landlocked her entire life, and she had always thought that catching her first glimpse of the ocean would be a life-altering event. She was a bit disappointed that it didn't seem that different. Half of her hadn't even realized that the ocean was now crashing about playfully ten feet away from her; it was the fact that she was in a different <em>world<em> that had been preoccupying her thoughts.

Still, she wasn't about to waste an opportunity. Slipping off her shoes and her socks, she took a few steps forwards, stopping when the water, still cold, was swirling around her ankles.

"Hi, Alexis!" Waddle Dee said behind her. Alexis turned around to face him.

"Hey, Waddle Dee! How are you doing?"

"Pretty good. And you?"

"Decent. Still a little tired, but you'll understand if I said that sleep was hard to come by last night."

"Yeah," Waddle Dee said, concerned and just a little bit uncomfortable, like how some people got when they knew something she didn't and wanted to keep it that way, but were too honest for their own good. "You didn't have any more nightmares, did you?"

"No, I made sure of that." Alexis said. "But that involved waking myself up every time I managed to fall asleep." She shifted from side to side as the cold water, which was originally refreshing, started to send little tendrils of coldness up her legs, pulsing through her bloodstream. Stepping away from the water, she added, "How's the Halberd's repairs going?"

"A little slow, but that can't be helped. With damages that big, it's going to take a little while."

"Yeah, no surprise there. Where's Kirby?"

"Oh, he left a little while ago. Probably went to go find something for him to eat. He's never full."

"Nice to know," Alexis said absently. "Now what should I do...?"

"You're that bored?" Waddle Dee asked.

"Well, antagonizing Vul was kinda how I was passing the time..." Alexis replied sheepishly. "I don't know what to do right now. Going back home isn't an option, and even if it was I have no idea where to find one of those portals Sword was talking about. My life's being threatened and I have no idea who's doing it or why."

"Sounds like you need some answers," Waddle Dee murmured. "I know someone that you could go to for some answers. It's a little far from here, but it'll be worth the time taken. You should probably get familiar with Dream Land, anyways, and the sooner we start, the better." Alexis nodded, picking up her shoes but making no move to put them back on. Wandering down the road barefoot with Waddle Dee at her side, she asked,

"Sounds good, but who are we going to see?"

"Someone very wise. His name is Kabu, and he knows a lot about Nightmare,"

"How so?" Alexis asked.

"Someone else told him. You already met him, though."

"So why don't we just ask _him_?" Alexis' question was met with silence. "Never mind, then..."

* * *

><p>"Kabu, I brought someone that I'd like you to meet!" Waddle Dee cried as he and Alexis approached a large statue in a valley. To Alexis' amazement, the statue spoke in reply. However, his reply was not one of response to Waddle Dee's greeting, but out of dread for something that had become clear to him as soon as he had laid eyes on the girl.<p>

"The barrier...has been broken. Nothing is safe from Nightmare. Nothing..." he moaned.  
>"'Barrier'?" Waddle Dee asked, nervously wringing his hands together.<p>

"An ancient veil that has been draped between this world and hers," Kabu replied. "It has protected her world from Nightmare for many years...until now. Now nothing is safe."

"Because I'm here?" Alexis asked.

"Yes. That is exactly why."

"So can't I just go back?"

"...No. It is too late for that. Already the darkness is creeping into your world. It will only be a matter of time before the damage is too great and your world succumbs in a way that many planets here have already done."

"But why is the barrier even there?" Waddle Dee asked. Kabu was silent for a minute before answering.

"It was put there by a large group of my own kind...centuries ago. We knew that someday, the barrier would be broken, but until then we had to keep Earth's Star Warrior safe, even if they wouldn't be born for another hundred thousand years."

"But Star Warriors only exist here...right?" Waddle Dee broke in.

"No, my friend. A few were sent to Earth, renegades captured by Nightmare and shipped off to what may be the other side of the universe. They woke up on Earth, and have been living there among the population ever since. However, only one Star Warrior would live. Not because of any ancient law of nature; that was just how it was going to be. How it _must_ be. That Star Warrior..." Kabu said, "Is none other than the girl standing before me at this very moment in time."

"But that isn't possible!" Waddle Dee cried. "How can Alexis be a Star Warrior?"

"Consider it a birthright of some sort," Kabu replied. "She has the spirits of many of the greatest Star Warriors in history within her. It is an unavoidable acquisition."

"How do you know she's that Star Warrior? Maybe she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time..."

"I doubt it," Alexis said quietly, speaking for the first time in quite a while. "Meta Knight told me that Nightmare doesn't make mistakes like that. If I've been hunted this far, then I'm the one he's after." Kabu looked like he would nod, but he didn't quite have the means to do so.

"Correct." Waddle Dee looked back and forth between the two, conflicted but unwilling to say anything.

"Well...we better be heading back. They might be looking for us," he finally managed to say. Alexis looked at him quizzically. There was a hard, knowing look in her eyes that made Waddle Dee feel as if she was staring straight into his soul. She nodded once, an almost invisible motion.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea," she said, calling his bluff. "I'll talk to you later, okay, Kabu?"

"Make sure you do," he said. "If not with me, then with Meta Knight. There are still many things you need to know if you are to survive what is to come..."

* * *

><p>"Okay, spill. You were a little eager to leave there, and I want to know why," Alexis said as soon as they were out of earshot. She was trying to remain casual about the whole thing, but her voice had a steely tone creeping in that didn't seem to improve the mood.<p>

"I...don't see how you're a Star Warrior...there aren't supposed to be any others left. And with you not even being from this world..."

"Oh, yeah. That's something I should've probably asked him. How people from your world came to mine and somehow...became human..." Alexis said, almost to herself. The change in topic was somewhat abrupt, but it passed unnoticed.

"That's a good question." Waddle Dee said.

"Which is why I didn't think of it until now," Alexis said matter-of-factly. The two burst out laughing before a loud rustling in the bushes snapped them out of it.

"What was that...?" Waddle Dee asked, hiding behind Alexis' leg. Three Dark Matters emerged as soon as he finished saying this, and the sudden appearance made Waddle Dee and Alexis jump.

"Not again!" Alexis groaned, her gaze locked on each of the floating masses of inky darkness. She looked around quickly for a weapon of some sort, reluctant to look away from the attackers. She began to formulate the only plan she could think of.

"Climb on my back. Hold on tight," she said to Waddle Dee. Kneeling down, Alexis still watched the Dark Matter as Waddle Dee clambered on. She didn't like how they were just sitting there; it somehow made the situation even more stressful than if they were all attacking. It was as if...

The idea slowly dawned on her. It was as if...they weren't there to attack, but to distract her so something else could...

"Watch out!" Waddle Dee cried in her ear. Alexis looked up at the sky and ducked, barely avoiding getting plucked off the ground and carried away by the large, multicolored bird that had swept down on them. Not waiting for it to circle back around for another attempt, Alexis tore down the path as fast as her feet could carry her.

"Waddle Dee. What...was...that?" She asked in between pants.

"D-D-Dyna Blade..." Waddle Dee whimpered. "They've taken control of Dyna Blade!"

"Okay," Alexis said as an enraged cry echoed through the air. "What does that mean for us?"

"It means...we're in trouble!" Alexis looked back just in time to see Dyna Blade bearing down on them, talons outstretched as if to grab them. Dark fury blazed in its eyes, fury that Alexis somehow knew belonged to something other than Dyna Blade. She braced herself for the shock, to either be skewered right here on the spot or to be carried off somewhere far away and being dealt with there. She plucked Waddle Dee off her back and half-threw him into the bushes on the side of the road.

"Get help!" She yelled as Dyna Blade scooped her up. She kicked frantically, trying to force herself out of Dyna Blade's iron grip, but her feckless efforts did nothing.

"Alexis!" Waddle Dee screamed, his eyes filling with tears as Dyna Blade carried her farther and farther away.

"Get help!" Alexis hollered again, her cries fading farther and farther away with each passing second. Waddle Dee took off towards the Halberd, hoping that someone was still there. He had no idea whether or not he could make it in time; at the rate he was going, it would take him a good ten minutes to reach the Halberd. Even then, there was no guarantee that anybody was still there...

"Alexis!" He cried at the shrinking speck on the horizon, hoping that she could hear him but knowing she probably couldn't. As he began to cry in hopelessness, a shadow passed over him before the sound of beating wings was heard behind him.

"Waddle Dee! Where's Alexis?" Meta Knight asked, his wings half-spread and ready to take off at a second's notice.

"T-they took c-control of D-Dyna Blade and-d took her away-y!" Waddle Dee blubbered, pointing at where Dyna Blade had disappeared over the horizon. Meta Knight took one glance at the almost-invisible speck that was Dyna Blade and took off. Flying after it without another word, he left a very upset, shocked Waddle Dee behind him, staring open-mouthed over the ocean.

* * *

><p>There were only three things that Alexis felt she needed to be aware of right now.<p>

One, she was dangerously high above the ocean, and a drop from this altitude would kill her without a doubt.

Two, she had fallen into her enemies' grasp, and there was no guarantee that Waddle Dee could have made it in time to get help.

Three, her arm was incredibly numb, as if it was no longer attached to her. It's sensations had faded out a while ago, but before then it had been blazing with pain. Somehow, she didn't know which was worse. _Things could be worse, _she thought, trying to stay on the bright side of things and, in the end, failing. _Who knows, they could've gotten bored and just dropped me..._ Alexis hastily looked up, wishing that the thought had never crossed her mind. While she was not really superstitious, she wished that there was some wood that she could knock on. _Please, don't let them hear that,_ she begged no one in particular. A Dark Matter flew up besides the possessed Dyna Blade.

"Change of plans," it said, its voice sending shivers up Alexis' spine. Its voice was a dark whisper, the sound of howling winds blowing through a dead forest."We don't need to waste time transporting the girl...so long as the job gets done this time." The Dark Matter currently controlling Dyna Blade replied in a mixture of the whispery voice of the first with the normal caws and cries of Dyna Blade. It was impossible to understand, and the sound made Alexis giggle quietly.

"Oh-here, I'll trade places with you for a second," the first said, sounding slightly exasperated despite the fact that it somewhat lacked variation in its vocal patterns.

That was the first and only mistake so far that Alexis had witnessed. And she intended to make the most of it. She knew by now that Dyna Blade's feathers were not ordinary feathers. The glittered and gleamed in the sun in a way that only a kind of metal can do. Slowly, cautiously, she plucked a single feather as a beating of wings brought it within her reach. To her relief, nobody had noticed. _I am about to do something incredibly stupid._ The thought was blunt, but true. She was taking on enemies with only a feather. A special feather, granted, but a feather nonetheless.

As the Dark Matter slipped out of Dyna Blade, Alexis felt the talons gripping her arm loosen their hold ever so slightly. It was just enough. She swung up, somehow managing to climb onto the bird's back and catch the Dark Matter off guard. Whatever they were expecting, it certainly wasn't this. She swung the feather at the dark spheres in front of her, feeling stupid but knowing that if one of them were to possess Dyna Blade again then it would be over for sure. The expressions in their single, red eyes was a mingling of surprise and amusement. As if they had looked at the last page in a book and knew how it was going to end ahead of time. Just as they launched a combined attack at her from opposite sides, Dyna Blade dropped a few feet out of the sky, almost sending Alexis hurtling towards the ocean far below.

"Dyna Blade?" She whispered. The bird looked back at her, her dark eyes gazing kindly into Alexis' with a kind of understanding far beyond the capabilities of a normal bird. It cawed quietly once before the Dark Matter behind threatened to catch up. Alexis, understanding the hidden command in Dyna Blade's eyes, hung on tight as Dyna Blade took off flying at incredible speed, taking to the skies with what could only be described as a majestic air. The clouds and the features of the land far below sped by faster and faster as Dyna Blade picked up speed in an attempt to lose their pursuers. Despite herself, Alexis laughed at the sheer exhilaration of it all. However, she couldn't shake the anxiety in the pit of her stomach that fretted that the Dark Matter would catch up and overpower them both. As if sensing these worries, Dyna Blade briefly turned to face her, as if attempting to comfort her with a single gaze. Turning her attention to the Dark Matter still following, Dyna Blade opened her beak and, to Alexis' astonishment, shot out a series of concentrated fireballs. While the first two missed, the second pair found their targets and evaporated them into nothing less than black fog that faded away into the morning air in the next second. All was quiet for a moment as Dyna Blade circled a large path in the air and started flying back the way she had come from.

"That...was awesome," Alexis whispered, as if speaking above that volume would jinx something. As Dyna Blade descended towards where Alexis and Waddle Dee has been separated, Alexis could swear that the bird was laughing silently.

* * *

><p>"Alexis! You're alive!" Waddle Dee exclaimed happily as Alexis slid off of Dyna Blade's back.<p>

"It's good to see that you're all right, too," Alexis replied.

"Oh, you shouldn't have been worrying about me," Waddle Dee said, somewhat embarrassed. "I wasn't the one who was carried off by a possessed bird."

"Yeah, but I knew that you might have been having an anxiety attack back there," Alexis said. "That worried me somewhat." Sword and Blade came rushing up from the path leading to the Halberd's hiding place.

"We heard about what happened with Dyna Blade..." Sword said, trailing off as he came face-to-face with the multicolored bird.

"Guys, it's okay. It wasn't Dyna Blade's fault; it was more Dark Matter!" Alexis said hastily, placing herself in between the bird and two knights as she saw swords being drawn.

"Oh, alright. If that's what it was..." Blade said, sheathing his sword. Sword followed suit moments later.

"Is Meta Knight back yet? I'd hate to send him on a wild goose hunt..." Waddle Dee asked.

"He's back. He just went to go talk with Kabu. Wasn't very clear on what the situation was, but I'm guessing we'll be finding out soon." Sword said. Alexis shot a wary glance down the path leading to Kabu.

"That makes me nervous..." she said.

"It'll be fine. I'm pretty sure he's just seeing how much you know now. Or, rather, what you _should_ know." Sword said, trying to be casual. However, Alexis noticed that his tone of voice he was using was edged with a thin layer of doubt. It made it sound more like he was trying to comfort _himself_ into thinking that nothing was wrong.

"Sword? You okay?" She asked hesitantly. Sword looked up, startled.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Just the way you said it made it sound like you were hiding something...I dunno," Alexis said dismissively. She was a lot better at hiding things than Sword was, and that made him nervous. Apathetic behavior was dangerous, even if it was only an act to throw people off.

"How did you manage to fight them off?" Blade asked suddenly.

"With a feather," Alexis admitted sheepishly. They started laughing quietly.

"A _feather_? One of Dyna Blade's feathers? That's...that's..._excellent_," Blade gasped. Alexis grinned.

"It was the craziest idea I've ever had...and it actually _worked,_"

"You know, you might have more of a chance than I thought you did," Sword said, genuine admiration in his voice. "You fought off _two_ of them with a _feather._ That's pretty impressive. It really makes me wonder what you're going to do next,"

"Oh, nothing much," Alexis said casually. "Right now, I'm gonna go find something to eat, because I am _starving!" _

"Ooh! I can make some waffles for breakfast!" Waddle Dee exclaimed.

"That...sounds really good right now," Alexis nodded. "After all, if what I've accomplished is such a big deal, then I think I deserve a good breakfast."


	5. UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

_**NOT A NEW CHAPTER I AM SO, SO SORRY**_

...Hey, guys, it's been a while. I'm wondering how many of you are still actually here xD

Anyway, as you could probably tell, it's been a good few years since I've been on this site, and honestly, I kind of forgot about my entire account that I have on here. But I really do want to get back into updating stories; I miss writing this stuff, and between getting busy with other things and gaining other interests, I guess this just wasn't too big of a priority.

What I'm saying is this: what stories do you guys especially want updates on? I want to know just so I can prioritize, and start getting back into the stories that are wanted the most. I plan on updating most if not all of them at some point or another (My Artemis Fowl story and maybe one or two others will probably be deleted, since I've lost interest altogether).


End file.
